Steam iron



STEAM IRON File d'Juna 30, 1944 'UNlTED STATES PATENT FFICE STEAM moN William C. Hume, Willow Grove, Pa., assignor,

mesne assignments,

Philadelphia, Pa., vanla to Philco Corporation,

a corporation of Pennsyl- Applicatlon June 30, 1944, Serial No. 542,882

Claims. (cuss-'17) A primary object of the present invention is to provide a steam iron having a novel and improved water supply reservoir.

More specifically an object of the invention is to incorporate the function of said reservoir in the handle of the iron in a manner to afford withdrawal of the water from connection with the steam generating chamber of the iron when the latter is made to assume a predetermined abnor- A circular recess 26, also formed in the upper surface of the soleplate, is adapted to receive the lower end 21 of ahollow tubular extension 28 of a member 29 mounted upon the soleplate, which member is securely attached to the soleplate, as by screws 30. Member 29 is substantially coextensive with soleplate l0 and serves to cover the channels 2|, 22, 23 and 24 in said soleplate to form thereof enclosed passages or manifold conma] position. duits for the jets. Passages or conduits 3|, 32. Still more specifically an object of the inven- 33 and 34 (Figure 3) are provided in member 29, tlon is to provide a handle for irons of the stated which passages afford communication between type having therein two water-retaining chamchannels 2!, 22, 23 and 24 and th chamber 36 bers, one only of which is immediately connected within the hollow extension 28 of said member. with the steam generating chamber, said water The soleplate H! is preferably provided with chambers being connected in a manner to afan armored electrical heater element 37 of wellf rd i t normal p t of the o and y known construction, to which electrical energy i 'y m v m t 9f t e iron to an abhorfor heating the iron is supplied through a cord mal position, a select1ve use ofthe chambers for 38 of the usual type. This cord comprises conh in the water supplyductors 39 connected to the heating element 3'! The invention further resides in the structural and t a manually adj table thermostat in which details hereinafter describedand illustrated in is mounted in a recess 4 beneath cover A the attached drawings, w knob 42 is provided for manual adjustment of Figure 1 is a lorfgitudmal Vertlcal Sectmnal E the thermostat which is connected in series with view of an iron having a handle constructed in 1.5 and controls flow of current the heating accordance with the invention, said sectional view element Egan substantially on the center line of the The upper Surface of the inner Walls of cham ber 36 converge to form an inverted substantially fg g if g gf g g g of the sole plate hemispherical valve seat 43 upon which is seated Figure 3 is g menta ectionalvie on the a hollow substantially spherical valve member nne Figure ry s W I M. The valve member has threaded inthe bot- For the purpose of description, the present in- 2? 23 plug g f g' f i g ven'tion is illustrated and described in connection r 655 t r.recep n 0 an eec nca ea er with a steam iron of the type disclosed in the elemen or Steam generatPr The heater copending application of William G Hume ment may be of conventional constructlon well rial No. 542,883, filed June 30, 1944, now Patent kmwn i? the interior of the No. 2,418,511, issued April 8, 1947, and assigned T s gf Into g fi g to the assignee of the presenta plication. 0 am 9 098m of W W 9 more With reference to Figure l of the drawings, fully described hereinafterthe embodiment of the iron therein illustrated T botPom Wall of the P 43 is pfovided comprises generally, a base member or soleplate. Wlth of apertures through Whlch the It], a cover I! suitably secured to the soleplate, g nl Ofthe resistance element of the heater as by screw Ila, a valve structure I2, the funcmay pass to be connected to e e tlon of which will be hereinafter described, and 45 power p y wires 53, the W s being c. ahandle I 3 attached to the valve. heated in series with wires 39 of cord T The soleplate, as illustrated in Figure 2, is of heater is suitably insulated from the plug 48 conventional configuration and is provided with by a gasket 54 and the ends 52 0f the resistance a plurality of discharge outlets, or jet groups l6, element are insulated from contact with-the, plug l1, l8 and 19, which together substantially sur- 50 by insulating grommets 57. round the major portion of the soleplate. Each The valve 44 normally closes the ends of conjet group comprises a plurality of steam discharge duits 3|, 32, 33 and 34 in member 29, but'is proapertures or jets 20 having communication with vided with outlet ports 58, 59, and GI arranged icllliannels 2|, 2%, 23 2.15m Irespelctilvefly, formed in 5 to register with the ends of" these conduits for i e upper sur ace 0 e so ep a e. 5

emitting steam'therefrom, selectively, when the valve is rotated in the manner now to be described.

The upper portion of valve seat 43 is provided with an aperture 62 through which passes an extension 63 of valve member 44 for threaded attachment to handle l3. Aperture 62 is of greater diameter than extension 63 to permit limited rotational or angular movement of the valve on its seat of a character to bring the ports 59, 59, 60

and BI selectively into registration with the ends of the conduits 3|, 32, 33 and 34.

In accordance with the present invention, the handle I3 is hollow and is shaped to provide therein forward and rearward water supply chambers or reservoirs 64 and 65 connected by a passage 68 which extends through the midor grip-portion 69 of the handle. The reservoirs 64 and 65, while in open communication with each other, are separated when the iron is in the normal position as shown in Figure 1 by the high mid-portion I3a of the handle so that water may be carried in one or other of the chambers independently of the other. This is illustrated in Figure 1 of the drawings wherein the chamber 64 is shown as substantially full of water while the chamber 65 is entirely empty. It i apparent that by tilting the iron upwardly at the front from the said normal position the water in the chamber 64 may be caused to flow into the chamber 65 with the result that when the iron is again returned to normal position the water being maintained in the chamber 65 will be prevented from passing to the steam generating chamber. By tilting the iron in the forward direction the water may be caused again to flow to the chamber 64.

As previously stated, the forward chamber 64 is in communication with the interior of the valve member 44 through a narrow passage in the extension 63 which passage is provided at its upper extremity with a valve seat H adapted to receive the tip of a needle valve 12 for regulatin the rate of flow of the water through the passage to the generator within the valve. The needle valve has threaded connection with a flanged sleeve 13 threaded into the handle, as at 14, and

vtion of applied force and about th center of a knob 15 is provided for turning thevalve to adjust it with relation to the valve seat for regulating the flow of water through passage 10 to the steam generator. Filling of the reservoir may be accomplished by removing the needle valve assembly from the handle and using the resultant aperture as a filler opening; or a separate filler opening may be provided.

The handle I3 and valve member 44 form a rigid unit which is held in position in the member 29 and against the valve seat 43 by a coil spring 16. The lower end of the spring is anchored within a recess 11 formed about the aperture 62 in member 29, and the top of the spring is anchored in a recess 18 formed in the bottom Wall 19 of handle I3. Anchoring the spring prevents cbjectionable horizontal rotational movement and angular displacement of the handle with relation to the longitudinal axis of the iron, and such anchoring may be accomplished by having the lower end of the spring turned downwardly, as indicated at 80, into a recess in member 29, and its upper end turned upwardly into a recess in the bottom Wall of the handle, as indicated at 8 l The steam generator is of the flash type; i. e., water from the reservoir flows through passage 10 into contact with the hot heater element and is immediately flashed into steam.

in the direction desired. This force initially effects a slight rocking movement of the handle with relation to the body of the iron in the direcvalve'member 44, thus establishing communication, through one or more of the ports 58, 59, and SI, between the steam chamber and one or more of the discharge apertures or jet groups l8, I9, 20 and 2|, depending upon the direction in which the handle is tilted.

More specifically, when force is exerted on the handle to move the iron in a forward direction, the handle will rock forwardly relative to the body of the iron and will move the valve member 44 so as to register port 58 with passage 3|, thereby permitting steam from the generating chamber to pass to the forward jet group I6. Such action is counter to the pressure of spring 16 which normally exerts its force to maintain the handle and the valve member 44 in a neutral position relative to the series of ports, as illustrated in Figure 1.

When force is exerted on the handle to move the iron in a sidewise direction (away from the viewer, say, in Figure 1) the handle is rocked so as to bring the port 59 into registry with passage 32, steam there emitting from jet group I1. Similarly, when the force is exerted in a rearward direction port 60 registers with passage 33 to emit steam from the jet group I8; and sidewise movement (toward the viewer in Figure 1) registers port 6! with passage 34 to emit steam from jet group I9. In each instance, steam is discharged from the jets which at the moment are on the leading edge of the iron, in accordance with the principle set forth in the aforesaid copending application, to which reference may be had for a more detailed description of this phase of operation.

By combining in one element the functions of the handle and reservoir it is possible to reduce to a minimum the size of the body of the iron while utilizing to advantage the normally wasted space taken up by the handle posts; and the provision in the reservoir of two interconnected chambers enables the operator to change over from steam ironing to dry ironing, and viceversa.

at will, as explained below. Thus assuming that the reservoir chambers 64 and 65'are of substantially equal capacity, and that with the forward chamber filled with water and the rear chamber empty, the iron is being used in steam ironing. If now it is desired to iron dry, the iron is simply uptilted at the front to an extent permitting the water to flow from the forward chamber into the rear chamber, thus shutting off the water supply to the steam generator chamber so that the iron is conditioned for dry ironing. By reverse tilting, the water may be returned to the forward chamber and steam pressing restored.

When it is desired to use the iron for steam ironing only, both reservoirs may be filled with water, and when the forward chamber runs dry it may be replenished with the water from the rear chamber by tilting the iron as described.

Thus a supply of water sufficient for a protracted period of steam ironing may be stored in the iron.

Iclaim:v

1. In a steam iron comprising a steam generator, a handle including a pair of individual water-supply reservoirs each arranged to retain water independently of the other when the iron occupies a normal operative position with respect 1 to a substantially horizontal ironing surface,

means for establishing direct communication between an individual one of said reservoirs and the generator, and means providing for transfer of water from each of said reservoirs to the other selectively.

2. In a steam iron comprising a steam generator, a handle extending generally parallel to the working face of the iron, said handle having hollow terminal portions forming individual water-supply reservoirs and a relativel elevated intermediate hollow portion forming a conduit between the tops of said reservoirs for transfer with said generator, which connection constitutes a means for supplying water to the generator from both of the reservoirs, and means responsive to change in position of the iron about a transverse axis through the latter for efiecting transfer of the water from each of the reservoirs selectively to the other.

5. A steam iron including a steam'generator, a steam discharge aperture, a pair of water-supply reservoirs each capable when the iron is in a normal operative position with respect to a substantially horizontal ironing surface of retaining of water selectively from each of said reservoirs to the other, said reservoirs being arranged so that each may retain water independently of the other when the iron occupies a normal operative position with respect to a substantially horizontal ironing surface, and. a port connecting one of said reservoirs with the generator, the other of said reservoirs constituting a means operative by transfer thereto 01' the water content of the firstname'd reservoir for excluding saidwater from the generator while maintaining an available supply of water in the iron.

3. In a steam iron, a handle including a pair of. water-supply reservoirs each arranged so as to gravitationally retain its water content independently of the other when the iron occupies a normal operative position with respect to a substantially horizontal ironing surface, a connecting duct operative when the iron is tilted from the said normal position in a manner to elevate one of the reservoirs above the other to direct a gravity flow of the water from the higher to the a port connecting one of said reservoirs with the generator, the other of said reservoirs constituting a means operative by transfer thereto 01' the I water content of the first-named reservoir for exits water content against passage to the other, means for effecting gravity flow of water from each to the other of said reservoirs selectively by tilting the iron from'said normal position, means for connecting one of said reserovirs to the said generator as a means for supplying water from both of the reservoirs to the generator, and means for connecting the generator with the said aperture. 3

VIVILLIAM c. HUME.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

